Ask HN: Anyone have hacks for focus & concentration?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=746156

by hop • 17 years ago

8 9 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I know I would be 10x more productive if I just followed through with everything. Don't like ADD drugs or caffeine. Having a startup is tough b/c its completely unstructured and time management falls squarely on yourself. Anyone else who's easily distracted have tips?

kashif• 17 years ago

I love planning and time management and the like. But once I started my startup, I realized things often didn't turn out the way I wanted. This happened because I either got distracted or estimated incorrectly. After trying to fight this for a long time, I just gave up and decided to go with the flow.

My conclusions are that when you go with the flow you end up being atleast as productive, if not more, then when you keep fighting to fit a arbitrary plan/target and you do it without the stress.

Fighting yourself is a completely frivolous activity that can be especially avoided by start-uppers.

hop3• 17 years ago

I would love to enlist in a start up bootcamp. You layout everything that needs to get done - maybe a week out, then someone with a bayonet keeps you on task. And makes you run 5 miles too.

nostrademons• 17 years ago

I probably shouldn't talk since I'm posting on HN instead of doing my work right now...

But I find it helps to break things down into tasks that'll take no more than 2-3 hours, and then pick 2-3 tasks I'll do for the day. Once I'm done with those, I'm officially done for the day, though if there're some obvious things I could do quickly, I'll usually want to just do them since I've been so productive. ;-)

You need downtime in order to stay productive. I've found that if I just work constantly and let the days bleed together, I lose my focus and end up getting a lot less done than if I decide what I want to do, do it, and then do whatever I want.

hop3• 17 years ago

Definitely. I find myself at the office on 12 solid hour benders and really could have accomplished the same amount in 4.

firefoxman1• 17 years ago

I found some awesome pages that help with concentration on LifeHacker:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-tips-for-ra...

and here are some brain exercises to improve concentration:

http://www.egodevelopment.com/10-exercises-for-better-focus-...

dryicerx• 17 years ago

Use a scratch pad or notebook next to you (a real paper one). Use this as a braindump, just what ever comes just jot down, todo's, ideas etc. This way you can concentrate on the task at hand and throw anything else in here.

Think of it like a swap space for the brain.

And at the end of the day/task, make a note on what to accomplish the next time. This really takes the stress of remembering a lot of things.

hop3• 17 years ago

I'm going to do that - thanks

Mz• 17 years ago

My son recommended that I listen to music (stuff without lyrics) while coding my websites. He had some theory about engaging different parts of the brain or something to help me stay on task. It did help.

I also get up about once an hour or so at work and walk around. When I find I can't concentrate anymore, physically getting up and coming up with some excuse to walk somewhere (the bathroom, the breakroom, the mail drop off) does help me concentrate again when I get back to my desk.

kirubakaran• 17 years ago

I practice single-tasking, with the aid of http://smacklet.com/ Not only do I get more done, I am more relaxed as well.

Ask HN: Anyone have hacks for focus & concentration?

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